University Of Miami Students Tout Love, Protest Trump
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CORAL GABLES (CBSMiami) -- Chanting love trumps hate, about 50 University of Miami students marched through campus, protesting a president-elect they fear will pursue hateful policies.
"Love is an important part of our society and I think a lot of people have lost sight of that, especially in recent years and especially in this election season," said UM Student Calvin Chappell.
The peaceful protest was organized by freshman students, who went through the process and got a permit.
The Dean of Students Ric Hall watched and said he admired their passion.
"I understand where they're coming from, and if you listen to their comments, some of their words come from a place of frustration," said Dean Hall.
As the protesters made their way across the school some students, supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, said get over it.
"He's our president, so we should all get behind him," said student Samuel Falic, who voted for Trump.
The demonstrators said they accept that Trump is the elected president and respect that, but not his beliefs.
"We're going to move forward and we're going to be protesting very actively each and every day, to contest the policies that are endangering populations across the country," said Josh Kleinman, one of the event organizers.
Just a day before, dozens of high school students in Homestead and South-Dade also walked out of class. They wanted to put pressure on local officials to have "sanctuary campuses."
Many of the protests are in response to Trump's plan to deport two to three million undocumented immigrants. It's something he reiterated during an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes."
It's a plan that is worrisome to the "dreamers" – students who President Barack Obama protected from deportation.
Trump's plan has not sat well with many cities and police agencies who have refused to arrest immigrants based solely on their status.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who told CBS4 he would vote for Hillary Clinton, said Wednesday he will not help a Trump administration round up undocumented immigrants.
"Our police officers aren't immigration officers. We don't go looking for immigration violators," Gimenez said. "We don't enforce that, we don't go looking for that."
With ongoing protests, it would seem, as we've seen for much of the last eight years, an America divided appears remains just that.
